angels lead you
by piston heart
Summary: If you'll be my boat, I'll be your sea. —LelouchShirley, post-R2.


**A/N: **So! This is very rough and it hasn't been beta'd, but I don't think that the mistakes are too terrible, though my writing style has mutated on me. It's also—I just don't know how to explain it, I suppose. I'll let you all form your own opinions on it.

**Disclaimer: **Silly readers, Code Geass is for Sunrise!

**Warnings: **For the whole of R2, and the ending of the first season.

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**angels lead you **  
_If you be my star  
I'll be your sky—  
you can hide underneath me and come out at night.  
When I turn jet black and you show off your light,  
I live to let you shine._

He expects a thousand other people to meet him on the other side, but not her.

Lelouch had decided that if he went anywhere after he died, it wouldn't be heaven. He wouldn't see Euphemia or Rolo or anyone else he'd killed that had been good in the end, as much as he hated using that term. Instead, his father might be the one he saw. Or Mao. Someone who had hated him and wanted revenge for all that he had done to them; perhaps not even someone who'd interacted with directly, but one whose life he had destroyed. He had decided it would be part of his penance. He had gone knowing it with his head towards the sky, with the thought that the world was so beautiful and that it was all _worth_ it, even with what awaited him. As long as he knew he had brought peace, he could be content even among fire and brimstone.

What he had not expected was to land on his feet in a grassy plain. He looked around in surprise, eyes searching for some hidden machination, for something that would reveal that this was all a facade. That was until he was pushed to the ground and kissed senseless, a warm weight atop him, fingers running through his hair and caressing the sides of his face, lips brushing over his nose and his eyes and his cheekbones before settling once more on his mouth. Hair that smelt like sunshine and vanilla and orange blossoms swung into his face. A voice that made his heart thump in his chest gasped between kisses 'I'm just so_ proud_'. This all made him blink all the more when the weight removed itself.

Lelouch blinked for the final time and sat up, frowning at the girl standing in front of him. She was in some sort of white dress. Her hair hung loose and her eyes were downcast, flickering upwards to settle on him before fastening onto her feet again. A faint blush stained her cheeks. But she was smiling through her embarrassment and nearly bouncing on the balls of her feet, and her eyes—God, her eyes—practically sparkled.

"I'm sorry, Lulu," she half-laughed. "I was just—well—I _missed_ you, and when I saw what you did for everyone, well—I couldn't help myself."

"It's fine," he said, trying to decide what her mouth tasted like: honey and milk, he eventually decided. Lelouch scratched the side of his head. "I, um." Damn it. This was awkward, as much as it pained him to admit it. "I'm sorry that I—"

"—killed me?" Shirley raised her eyebrows at him and stepped forward, taking her hands in his. Her voice softened. "Lulu, you didn't. You never meant for me to die. And—" She nibbled on her lip, as if unsure of what to say. "I never regretted my choice. And Euphie made Rolo apologize. I still don't like him, but forgiveness is what's this place is all about, and you can forgive someone without liking them. And I—I still love you, you know. Now I know all that happened to you, and I can say that you're not the monster you think you are. You _aren't._"

_Yes, I am,_ he wanted to say, but found his mouth wouldn't form the words. While he'd never thought of Shirley as fierce, she looked it then, challenging him to just say something stupid like that and hear what _she_ had to say about it. He smiled, and then he frowned.

"Shirley, I have a question," he stated.

"Hm?" she frowned at him. "It better not be something stupid, like if there's a casino in the afterlife."

"No, no." He chuckled before becoming solemn once more. "Shirley, I was just wondering—why are you and Euphie and Rolo in Hell, of all places?"

It was her turn to blink at him. Her frown deepened incredulously. "We're not in Hell! How can you say that, Lelouch?!"

"Well none of you were bad people—"

"You weren't a bad person either, Lelouch!" she batted her hands in the air around her, eyes open and earnest. "I really wish you would stop saying that, because you weren't! It's not right that you think of yourself like that! You were one of the best—the most beautiful—people I've ever met. No—you _are_ the best person I've ever met. Lelouch, do you think I would love you if you had an ugly soul?"

He narrowed his eyes at her. "All of us," he said firmly, "want what we can't have. We want what's the worst for us. Beautiful people love ugly people. Good people love bad people. Opposites attract. /You/ are the beautiful person here, Shirley—it's only natural—"

"Those are all lies, Lulu." Her eyes were sad. Lelouch couldn't help but stare at her. "It's not natural that you think of yourself like that. Sure, you made mistakes. We all do. You made some bigger mistakes than a lot of people, but you're here now. You're forgiven. In the end, you did what was right. You sacrificed yourself for what you believed in, and it cleared the slate of everything else you had done, because even now the world is changing. It's a beautiful and happy place, and it's all because of what _you_ did. A person who did all of that can't have an ugly soul. I wish that you could see yourself like I see you."

Guilt choked the rebuttals that had flown to his tongue. Shirley had deflated. She still radiated some sort of light, but she no longer radiated that same energy and benevolence, and the light had become sorrowful.

"I—" he cursed how inarticulate guilt had made him and sighed. "I won't lie and say I won't think of myself like that anymore. I can't. I find it hard to believe that one action, no matter how big or small, could have erased all of my previous sins. But Ill try."

"You better not be saying that just because you want to make me happy," Shirley said. "Because if you are, I'll—well. I won't stop being happy. I'll just make you be happy. Somehow."

A smile tugged at the corners of his mouth. "Is that a promise?"

"That's a vow."

Lelouch nodded. "All right. I'll be happy if you'll be happy, and vice versa. What next?"

She smiled at him. It was not as joyful as it had been before, but it was a smile, and steel resolve to make sure it became so filled him. "Next, we go and see everyone else. Are you ready?" She held her hand out towards him, and he grasped it with another nod. They began to walk through the field. It was more beautiful than any other place he'd ever seen, yet it didn't need to state its beauty in flashy colors or draw the eye to it—this beauty was understated, natural, and all the more potent because of it. Much like someone else's.

"Hey, Shirley," he said thoughtfully, when they were near the edge of the field.

"Hm? Yes, Lulu?"

"Are there casinos in the afterlife?"

**and they lived happy ever after**—**after.**

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A/N:** My fondness for LuluShirley grew during the month I was away. I've got to say, I'll probably be writing a lot more for them once I get back into the swing of things. They're just so sweet! Not to mention that Shirley's death scene is enough to make me want to sob and be unable to.

Any readers of BMIL or my drabble collection: Both will be updated within two months. That's the best time frame I can give. I'm sorry; I'm on a semi-hiatus, and I'd rather have both of them be done well than be done messily.

Thank you for reading!

_Feedback and concrit greatly appreciated!_


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